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prof.dr. H.E. Vonkeman (Harald)

Honorary Professor
BMS-HIB-PHT
Capitool 15 138
h.e.vonkeman@utwente.nl
Business card

CHAIR PATIENT CENTERED HEALTH TECHNOLOGY

My aim is to advance research that facilitates a transition of care, in which healthcare supported by technology is increasingly being delivered at a distance from healthcare institutions, in a way that is both meaningful to patients and has added value to society. To achieve this, I intend to further develop a platform and network that facilitates collaboration between patients, scientists, medical specialists, primary care professionals and tech companies, that stimulates development of innovative health technologies and accelerates access to evidence-based technological innovations in healthcare.

As a physician, my main aim has been to enhance quality of life of patients living with chronic rheumatic diseases. Although this work has significantly improved long term outcomes of patients, I have found that there are often striking discrepancies in perceptions of disease between patients and caregivers. Much of my research has been on measuring and using patients’ perspectives as goals of treatment, i.e., outcomes that are relevant to patients; such as pain, fatigue, physical function and participation. These outcomes are often multidimensional and complex, difficult to measure and even harder to use in treatment strategies. In recent years this work has branched out to the development and implementation of Value Based Health Care. 

The role of Health Technology has become increasingly important in the way professionals diagnose, treat and monitor patients, in healthcare institutions and increasingly also at home, as well as for patients themselves. Projects aimed at using innovative technology to measure and improve outcomes involve telemonitoring of chronic diseases, computer adaptive tests, pain threshold measurement and therapeutic use of virtual reality.

As a board member of the Dutch Society for Rheumatology (NVR), charged with the portfolio Training & Education, and as director of the MST Rheumatology Fellowship, I endeavor to include innovative health technology in future medical intern- and fellowships of physicians and nurses.

Expertise

  • Medicine and Dentistry

    • Patient
    • Rheumatoid Arthritis
    • Inpatient
    • Therapeutic Procedure
    • Disease Activity
    • Spondylarthritis
    • Pain
    • Adverse Drug Reaction

Organisations

Ancillary activities

  • Medisch Spectrum TwenteMedical Specialist

Publications

2025

Exploring difficult-to-manage axial spondyloarthritis: Results from a Dutch clinical practice registry (2025)Rheumatology (E-pub ahead of print/First online). Smits, M. L., Webers, C., Vonkeman, H. E. & van Tubergen, A.https://doi.org/10.1093/rheumatology/keaf120One-year trajectories of physical and mental health-related quality of life, fatigue and dyspnoea in COVID-19 survivors (2025)Quality of life research, 34, 341–351. Schaap, G., Davelaar, J. F., Klooster, P. M. t., Doggen, C. J. M., van der Palen, J., Bode, C. & Vonkeman, H. E.https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-024-03812-yCombined Psychophysical and Neurophysiological Responses to Intra-epidermal Electrical Stimulation: Clinical Explorations in Patients with Chronic Pain (2025)[Thesis › PhD Thesis - Research UT, graduation UT]. University of Twente. Berfelo, T.https://doi.org/10.3990/1.9789036564403Factors associated with treatment intensification in patients with axial spondyloarthritis and high disease activity in clinical practice (2025)Rheumatology, 64(1), 91-98. Webers, C., Nezam El-Din, R., Beckers, E., Been, M., Vonkeman, H. E. & van Tubergen, A.https://doi.org/10.1093/rheumatology/kead634

2024

Experiences with patient-initiated follow-up supported by asynchronous telemedicine in spondyloarthritis: a mixed methods study (2024)Rheumatology (E-pub ahead of print/First online). Smits, M. L., Hermans, K., Boonen, A., Vonkeman, H. E., Webers, C. & van Tubergen, A.https://doi.org/10.1093/rheumatology/keae650Induction of Cure in Early Arthritis (I CEA): study protocol for an investigator-initiated randomized single-blind clinical trial with open-label extension to compare three treatment strategies in patients with newly diagnosed undifferentiated arthritis (2024)Trials, 25(1). Article 758. Bergstra, S. A., van Ouwerkerk, L., Nevins, I. S., van der Pol, J. A., Helmich, G. S., Hest, I., van Veen, A., Bos, R., Goekoop-Ruiterman, Y. P. M., Vonkeman, H. E., Bijsterbosch, J., de Jong, P. H. P., Güler-Yüksel, M., Böhringer, S., Huizinga, T. W. J. & van Gaalen, F. A.https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-024-08609-5Patient-initiated follow-up supported by asynchronous telemedicine versus usual care in spondyloarthritis (TeleSpA-study): a randomised controlled trial of clinical and cost-effectiveness (2024)The Lancet Rheumatology, 6(12), e848-e859. Hermans, K., Webers, C., Boonen, A., Vonkeman, H. E. & van Tubergen, A.https://doi.org/10.1016/S2665-9913(24)00229-7Affect and post-COVID-19 symptoms in daily life: An exploratory experience sampling study (2024)PLoS ONE, 19(10). Article e0295217. Schaap, G., Wensink, M., Doggen, C. J. M., van der Palen, J., Vonkeman, H. E. & Bode, C.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0295217Quantification of longitudinal patient-reported burden of adverse drug reactions attributed to the use of TNF-α inhibitors in inflammatory rheumatic diseases: an observational prospective cohort study (2024)Expert opinion on drug safety (E-pub ahead of print/First online). König, B. H., Gosselt, H. R., van Lint, J. A., Kosse, L. J., van den Bemt, B. J. F., ten Klooster, P. M., Vonkeman, H. E. & Jessurun, N. T.https://doi.org/10.1080/14740338.2024.2383697The burden of adverse drug reactions reported by patients in the Dutch ADR monitor: a proof of concept (2024)Expert opinion on drug safety (E-pub ahead of print/First online). Quik, J. M., Gosselt, H. R., van Lint, J. A., Kosse, L. J., ten Klooster, P. M., Vonkeman, H. E., van den Bemt, B. J. F. & Jessurun, N. T.https://doi.org/10.1080/14740338.2024.2383707

Research profiles

Courses academic year 2024/2025

Courses in the current academic year are added at the moment they are finalised in the Osiris system. Therefore it is possible that the list is not yet complete for the whole academic year.

Courses academic year 2023/2024

Address

University of Twente

Capitool 15 (building no. 78), room 138
Capitool 15
7521 PL Enschede
Netherlands

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